


let me occupy (a fraction of your mind)

by theseourbodies



Category: Primeval
Genre: Episode tag-2.04, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-24
Updated: 2014-09-24
Packaged: 2018-02-18 14:44:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2352113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theseourbodies/pseuds/theseourbodies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Making the decision to check on his teammates turns out to be the best idea that Steven's had all day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	let me occupy (a fraction of your mind)

**Author's Note:**

> I am perfectly aware that this is from the second season of a series that came out years ago, but it's pretty new to me, so. Not at all beta'd, but hopefully there's nothing glaringly wrong. 
> 
> Enjoy

The thing is, Stephen expects to find Connor there when he makes his way to Abby's apartment. It's a natural, reasonable assumption, he likes to think, that Connor would stick around to make sure that the battered teammate was alright before skipping off. They were all impossibly casual about the peril they got themselves into, but the look on Connor's face when Abby was taken was still fresh in Stephen's mind. They had fought to get her back; he had never even considered that Connor would leave Abby's side after he finally got her back. 

Connor has developed the bad habit of surprising him, though, and Stephen should have remembered that. When he shows up at Abby's apartment, the door's unlocked; worried, he takes the stairs two at a time to get to the main level. Her name is on the tip of his tongue, but it shrivels up and dies when he catches sight of her. She makes a startled little sound when he appears, and perhaps she moves to get up. Rex makes a faintly alarmed sound from her arms, and she stops. Her distraction allows Stephen to take a moment to study her and come to several unhappy realizations. Abby hasn't changed out of her dirty, wet clothes; her hands are shaking. How long she's been like this, alone in the apartment (where the hell is Conor?) he has an uncomfortable idea.

By the time Abby has righted Rex, Stephen has calmed considerably, but it is the artificial calm before a BASE jump or when a tiger catches sight of you in the underbrush. He needs to get her out of her clothes, and he has never felt less excited by that prospect. "That can't be comfortable. You'll fall sick, if you stay in those things." 

Abby manages a smile, and he tries not to notice how her lips tremble. "Tryna get me out of my trousers? Don't you know that I've had a shock?"

He is perfectly aware, thank you. Her makeup is smeared around her eyes where something (or someone) has made her cry, and it's left smoky daggers down her face and her clear blue eyes red rimmed. Stephen wanted to wipe her face, dry her off, wrap her up so that nothing (no one) could ever make her look like this again, alone and undone in her own living room. Instead, he conjures up a smile, a pathetic thing that sat wrong on his face.

"Maybe some other time. As you said, you've had a shock." The sincere softness of his voice made her fidget self consciously with her still wet sleeves. Shocked by his own tone, he quashed the rising embarrassment, and gently took her hand. He had no actual idea where her bedroom was, but the ladder to the loft looked promising; she certainly went without hesitation, and he let himself revel in the minor success as he claimed Rex's attention and she climbed slowly to new, dry clothes.

It took longer than he expected; he was on the verge of shattering any sense of personal space by climbing up to check on her when she reappeared, moving no more quickly but with more certainty than before. Abby was scrubbed clean and wearing more layers than he was used to seeing, and she grabbed both Rex and the arm that had been holding him on the way back to the couch.

Stephen considered pulling away for the split second it took her to register his arm looped through her own. Abby's sudden jerk would have caught him completely off guard if he hadn't seen it coming and wrapped his now free arm around her shoulders instead. She sank into him and together they sank into the couch. She curled up into him this time; Rex wrapped herself around her neck and Steven followed suit, curling both arms around her and tucking her head under his chin.

She'd always seemed larger than life, but she was so easy to wrap around. The distress he couldn't see in her hidden expression was laid out in her shaking hands and trembling shoulders. 

He pressed his face into her hair and held on, politely disregarding any tears.

**Author's Note:**

> (I am the most American to ever America, so this is not at all britpicked. I hope you enjoyed it anyway.)


End file.
